Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal (28 March 1919 – 16 July 2009) was a
prominent Carnatic musician and a playback singer for film songs in many Indian
languages. She along with her contemporaries M. S. Subbulakshmi and M. L.
Vasanthakumari were (and still are) popularly referred to as the Female trinity
of Carnatic Music. This trio initiated the entry of women into mainstream
Carnatic Music. She has been appreciated all over the world by Carnatic music
lovers.

Pattammal was born in an orthodox
Brahmin family in Kancheepuram of Tamil Nadu, India.She was named as Alamelu,
but fondly called "Patta" as a child prodigy. Her father, Damal
Krishnaswamy Dikshithar, who was deeply interested in music, inspired her to
learn Carnatic music. Her mother, Kanthimathi (Rajammal), although a talented
singer herself, was not permitted to sing even for friends or relatives in line
with strict orthodox tradition. Despite her orthodox background, Pattammal sang
and showed considerable music talent at an early age.

She received no formal gurukula
training.As a child, Pattammal sat through the concerts, and on returning home,
notated the kritis she heard, and key phrases of ragas.Her brothers D. K.
Ranganathan, D. K. Nagarajan, and D. K. Jayaraman - later her vocal accompanists, helped her in this
task.She also sang simple devotional hymns and songs her father taught her. Later,
she received tuition from an unnamed Telugu-speaking musician, whom she called
"Telugu vadyar" or "Telugu teacher". He'd also offered to
teach her Telugu and Sanskrit.

At age 8, Pattammal won first
prize for singing Thyagaraja's "Raksha Bettare" in Bhairavi, at a
competition conducted by C Subramanya Pillai (popularly known as Naina
Pillai).Naina Pillai, whom Patta admired deeply, used to host Thyagaraja
festivals in Kancheepuram every year, and was a veteran in the art of singing
Ragam Thanam Pallavi. In 1929, at age 10, Pattamal gave her first radio
performance for Madras Corporation Radio (now known as AIR), and 3 years later,
she gave her first public concert at
Madras Rasika Ranjani Sabha in 1932. One year later, she moved to Chennai to
become a regular performer in concerts and gave her first performance at the
Mahila Samajam (the Egmore Ladies Club), and won acclaim. In 1939, Pattammal
married R. Iswaran. She quickly rose to stardom, and her musical career spanned
more than 65 years.

D. K. Pattammal's knowledge was
encyclopedic; she was considered as an authority on Muthuswami Dikshitar's
compositions, and is also known for her renditions of these. She learnt
authentic versions of these compositions from Ambi Dikshithar, a descendant of
Muthuswami Dikshithar, as well as Justice T. L. Venkatrama Iyer, an authority
on Dikshithar's compositions. She popularised several Dikshithar's compositions
in her concerts, and also sang Tiruppugazhs and Tevarams that she learnt from
Appadurai Achari.

Pattammal also learnt many
compositions of Papanasam Sivan, directly from the composer himself.She went
onto popularise these compositions of Papanasam Sivan, as well as those of
Subramania Bharathiyar, both in film and Carnatic music. Pattammal started a
few revolutionary trends in Carnatic music. She was the first Brahmin woman to
have performed this genre of music publicly. Brahmins ranked as the highest in
the caste hierarchy prevalent in India in the early 20th century, and society
considered it taboo for a Brahmin woman to perform on stage. Pattammal was also
the first woman to have performed Ragam Thanam Pallavi in concerts. Ragam
Thanam Pallavi, which was classed as a male stronghold, is the most difficult
concert item in Carnatic music, as it calls for great skill and a high degree
of concentration to handle the rhythmic complexities involved.

Pattammal went further to perform
very complex Pallavis in intricate talas (rhythmic cycles); impressing and
earning the respect of her male peers, connoisseurs and fellow-musicians. Her singing of pallavis was technically
perfect, and aesthetically pleasing. For this reason, she became dubbed
"Pallavi Pattammal”. She learnt a few
pallavis and compositions from Naina Pillai, and several from Vidyala
Narasimhalu Naidu, the nephew of Tirupati Narayanaswami Naidu, a prominent composer of javalis. Today, many
female Carnatic musicians perform Ragam Thanam Pallavi as the main item in
their concerts.